Volume One, Chapter Ninety-Six, Part Four

“No way!”

“My goodness!”

After nearly three hours of browsing, Taiga and Titus were utterly shaken to their core.

In their eyes, the senior heroes who had always seemed so stern had somehow turned into complete clowns on Earth.

Especially Uncle Max—he had actually failed to catch a car.

Hahahaha!

Yukio was sprawled in his chair, laughing so hard his stomach hurt.

His finger moved almost of its own accord, and a brand-new image slowly appeared.

The moment they saw it, the three of them, who had been laughing until tears came to their eyes a second ago, froze at once.

“W-who is that?”

In the picture stood a figure in silver-blue armor, every inch of him radiating a sinister aura.

His eyes, in particular, seemed to come straight from the abyss, dark and chilling enough to make one’s blood run cold.

Beneath the image was a small line of text: the armored avenger, Knight Hunter Sword.

Ultraman Hikari!

“H-Hikari!” Taiga dropped onto the floor, staring fixedly at the picture.

Titus’s expression also changed. His throat bobbed again and again as he swallowed hard.

Who Hikari was, there was probably no one who did not know.

He was the chief scientist of the Land of Light, and one of the venerable pioneers who had developed the Plasma Spark Tower. His status was comparable to that of the Great Commander of the Space Garrison, Father of Ultra.

And though Hikari was a warrior of the Blue Tribe, the power he possessed was in no way inferior to that of any member of the Space Garrison.

His name had spread across the universe as far back as the birth of the Land of Light and the Ultraman race.

Later, he had even joined forces with Mebius on Earth to defeat the emperor of the Dark Nebula, Empera.

Every one of those glorious achievements proved Hikari’s strength and might.

But what was this picture?

Taiga searched his memory with all his might, only to realize he had never even heard the name Knight Hunter Sword.

Yukio’s expression grew far more solemn as well.

The Ultraman in the photo gave him a deeply sinister feeling.

Not strength, but hatred.

Hatred so profound that he truly could not understand it, nor imagine it.

“Ultraman Hikari... what exactly did he go through?”

Rumble—

Just as the three of them were weighed down by heavy thoughts, a tremendous explosion suddenly rang out outside.

Yukio rushed to the door, only to see a gaping hole torn open in the sky.

And then, as though hurled down by an unseen hand, an imposing alien crashed heavily to the ground.

“An alien!” Yukio’s pupils contracted, and he was about to transform instinctively.

Then a streak of blue light floated before him.

At the same time, a bright and easygoing voice followed immediately after.

“Hahaha, I finally found you all!”

Taiga and Titus appeared on either side of Yukio at once, looking excitedly toward the blue light.

“Fuma, it’s you!”

“Fu... Fuma?” Yukio blinked, then immediately understood.

If he had guessed right, this must be an Ultraman too.

As expected, the blue light drifted into his hand and became a key similar to Taiga and Titus’s.

With a flash of radiance, a blue figure slowly appeared before Yukio.

“I come riding on the wind of the galaxy. I am Ultraman Fuma!” Fuma struck what he believed was a cool introduction, then extended his arm and said with a smile, “Nice to meet you, kid.”

“Nice to meet you...” Yukio forced a twitch of his lips, shook his hand, and then said, “Um, shouldn’t we be dealing with the alien right now?”

Fuma glanced over and immediately slapped his forehead.

“Oh, sorry, sorry, I didn’t notice.”

“Then let’s go,” Yukio said sharply, instinctively reaching for Taiga’s key.

But after a moment’s thought, he used Fuma’s instead.

After all, he was the newcomer. Better to see what his strength was like first.

“Where is this?”

The King of the Kirieloids rubbed his throbbing head.

He clearly remembered being on another planet. How had he suddenly ended up here?

The King of the Kirieloids stood up and looked around in confusion.

“Die!”

A sharp cry suddenly rang down from above.

Before the King of the Kirieloids could even react, an Ultraman had already rushed up in front of him and thrown a punch.

“?”

Though he had not yet made sense of the situation, the King of the Kirieloids swiftly raised his hand and seized Fuma by the neck.

“What!” Fuma was startled and struggled violently.

But that hand was like steel, solid beyond belief. No matter how hard he strained, he could not budge it even a little.

“Leave it to me!”

At the critical moment, Titus gave a low roar, instantly replacing Fuma and appearing before the King of the Kirieloids.

“!”

Seeing his opponent change all at once, the King of the Kirieloids’ arm gave a violent twitch. He flung the still-unpowered Titus straight away, and Titus smashed through several buildings before finally coming to a halt.

“Hmph.” The King of the Kirieloids let out a cold snort and swept his gaze over the humans fleeing across the ground.

He understood now.

This was Earth.

Earth, where his kind had hidden for thirty million years!

The King of the Kirieloids’ face lit with delight, and he bellowed at once, “Edos, I am here!”

His voice was thunderous, the sound waves clearly visible as they rippled out across the entire planet.

Yet for a long while, he saw no sign of his people.

What was going on?

The King of the Kirieloids frowned in confusion.

Could it be... they were all dead?

He suddenly remembered the scene from when he had traveled to Earth through the portal.

He had been moving along just fine when the portal was suddenly shattered by a forceful blow.

Caught off guard, he had been violently swept into the turbulence of space.

And the final message transmitted to him by that loyal subordinate... was the name of an Ultraman called Tiga.

“Tiga...” The King of the Kirieloids’ brows twisted into a savage knot, and a wildly ferocious aura burst from his whole body.

“Ultraman Tiga, get out here!”

This roar was saturated with brutal fury and killing intent, so intense that many people on the street were left deaf and disoriented.

The Kirieloid race had always been sparse in number, and the only survivors were those who had gone out on missions from the ancient age thirty million years ago.

As for the hybrids that had been produced after that... could they possibly compare with true-blooded kin?

And now, not a single one was left.

“Damn Ultraman!” Blood seemed to blaze in the King of the Kirieloids’ eyes as his figure instantly appeared before the still-rising Titus.

“Go to... hell!”

Blue flames surged and erupted in the King of the Kirieloids’ hand, rolling out like a vast ocean as they lunged toward Titus’s body.

“Danger!”

Yukio’s pupils widened, and he decisively ended the transformation.

Almost at once, Titus’s massive body dissolved into light, narrowly avoiding disaster.

The blue flames struck nothing, and the King of the Kirieloids, blinded by rage, thought his enemy had been annihilated. He began to destroy everything around him in a frenzy.

“Tiga... Ultraman Tiga!!!”